Meet the DOE: Common Core Edition

7th & 8th Grade Math Curriculum

Tips on Working with the Common Core State Standards

Apps that focus on Instruction should align with The Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS are a new set of universal K-12 academic standards designed to improve quality of instruction, reduce differences in teaching and learning between individual states and help states develop more rigorous and informative assessments.

So far, 45 states and 3 territories have adopted these standards, which presently cover Mathematics and English Language Arts. These new standards provide guidelines for educators on the organization and progression of key concepts and lesson plans. As you design and develop your app, make sure that the concepts and examples you use align with the standards associated with the grade-level and content area that you’re addressing.

As in illustration of the instructional and content shifts required by the standards, here’s an example of a 6th Grade mathematics problem on ratios and ratio reasoning BEFORE and AFTER the implementation of the standards.

A typical question BEFORE Common Core State Standards

Mark was mixing blue paint and yellow paint in the ratio of 2:3 to make green paint. If he wants to make 45 liters of green paint, how many liters of blue paint does he need? Select the correct answer below

(1) 12 (2) 16 (3) 18 (4) 20

A typical question AFTER Common Core State Standards

Mark was mixing blue paint and yellow paint in the ratio of 2:3 to make green paint. He wants to make 45 liters of green paint. He began to make a table to help him think about the problem, but is unsure of what to do next.

Liters of Blue Paint

Liters of Yellow Paint

Liters of Green Paint

2

3

5

4

6

10

1. Explain in words how to continue to place values into the table.

2. Write an explanation in words to Mark about how he can use his table to find out how many liters of blue paint and how many liters of yellow paint he will need to make 45 liters of green paint.

Explanation of Differences

The Common Core Standard 6.RP.1 requires that students “understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio between two quantities, while 6.RP.3a requires students to “make tables of equivalent ratios relating quantities with whole-number measurements, find missing values in the tables, and plot the pairs of values on the coordinate plane.”

The CCSS for Mathematical Practice — apply across all ages and disciplines

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

Model with mathematics

Use appropriate tools strategically

Attend to precision

Look for and make use of structure

Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

Visit this page for an in-depth explanation of additional sample lessons and examples of rubrics that help with effectively evaluating student responses based on the standards.